Democrats expect healthcare overhaul to pass

By GottaLaff

After decades, we see a ray of light at the end of the tunnel:

Leading Democrats on Sunday said they expect Congress to pass a major healthcare reform backed by President Barack Obama.

Yay! This calls for a Good News sound effect! (You may have to hit the Play button twice, there's an audio glitch)

... but supporters may have to accept legislation that falls short on some issues.

Oh. Insert Not So Good News sound effect here:



There are concerns about the cost. That is to be expected.

Howard Dean, a physician and former governor from Vermont who has been critical of some of his fellow Democrats who do not back a public health insurance option, predicted on the same news show that Obama would succeed on healthcare reform.

"We're going to pass a decent health care bill that really is going to start reform," Dean said.

"There's no way to fix this bill," [Jon] Kyl told "Fox News Sunday."

I prefer to be more of a
kind of girl.

Everyone grab your slide whistles, aim for the high notes and join me in refusing to be the Party of

Whistleblowers Unveil More ArmorGroup Allegations

By GottaLaff

Original posts here and here.

Class-wise, this group ranks right down there with people like Joe Wilson. Maybe he'd consider signing up? Nah, Wilson could never pass the physical... although he'd most likely be into that whole pee thing:

In a press conference revolving around an unlawful-termination lawsuit filed against ArmorGroup, former senior company officials said ArmorGroup was aware of widespread fraud; intentional use of non-English speaking guards to save money at the expense of embassy security; operations of a shell corporation in order to win contracts intended only for American companies; and even involvement in prostitution — and that the State Department knew about at least some of the company’s illicit practices.

Oy.

Lots and lots more here.

"Animal House" ArmorGroup Forces Embassy Whistleblower to Resign

By GottaLaff

By now you're familiar with the "Animal House" style "hazing" that took place in Kabul (original posts here and here).

It looks like the wrong people are being forced out:

How is ArmorGroup responding to the allegations that it's Kabul embassy guards were engaging in a range of unbecoming conduct? The firm has so far declined to issue any comment. Behind the scenes, however, it has taken swift action, though not against those of its employees who engaged in or approved of lewd behavior, humiliating hazing rituals, and other practices that put the embassy at risk. Rather, says the Project on Government Oversight, the company has retaliated against one of the whistleblowers who brought these explosive allegations to the watchdog group's attention:

One of the whistleblowers who helped expose the guard scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has just been forced to resign after his company—whose client is ArmorGroup, North America (AGNA)—came to believe that he had reached out to D.C. for assistance. The company told POGO that the whistleblower’s resignation was voluntary.

However, information obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) strongly suggests he was pressured into resigning to avoid being fired, an action often referred to as constructive dismissal.

POGO is deeply concerned about the action allegedly taken against the whistleblower. He is being forced out at a time when three of the supervisors responsible for allowing the misconduct at Camp Sullivan have been allowed to quietly resign and escape accountability. As per our letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of September 1, 2009, POGO calls on the State Department to take immediate action to protect both the physical and employment security of whistleblowers who have stepped forward with allegations of serious misconduct involving ArmorGroup, North America and others.

There is a lot more to read, and I suggest you do.

This is unacceptable on so many levels. The State Department better kick all the right butts on this one, or their credibility will be shot. This entire episode gets more appalling by the day.

It's time to for State to clean up ArmorGroup's act, and their own, immediately.

In fact, it's time to have a serious investigation into these so-called contractors. Blackwater/Xe and ArmorGroup have got to go, and our military needs to go back to doing the work they used to do.

Wiretap whistleblower: Bush FBI sent 18 armored agents to search my house

By GottaLaff

Typically BushCo bullying, terrifying payback. One might even call it terrorism:

The Bush Administration’s FBI sent 18 agents in body armor to the home of a man who revealed details of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, according to a little-noticed account of the whistleblower published Thursday.

Thomas Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer in the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, revealed details of the wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2004. In 2007, FBI agents raided his Potomac, Maryland home.

Tamm wasn’t there. His college-aged son, wife and young daughter were — but their father had never told them of his leak to the Times.

And what did the 18 agents do? Treat the family politely? Nah. Take care to avoid frightening a child out of her wits (are you listening "pro-lifers"?) with guns (that can kill children as well as adults)? Uh-uh. Act in the least bit respectful to their fellow Americans? No way:

“They asked me questions like ‘Are there any secret rooms or compartments in the house’?” Terry Tamm, his son, told Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff last December. “Or did we have a safe? They asked us if any New York Times reporters had been to the house. We had no idea why any of this was happening.”

Abrupt, surprise attack and intimidation are so much more fun. Who needs genteel foreplay? It's more important to scar kids for life and take as long as possible to do that, while brandishing deadly firearms:

“They were all wearing body armor, they were all well armed,” he told the audience, according to Wired. “They asked my kids if we had any secret rooms in the house … or whether I had any weapons. They were in my house for over seven hours.”

“I’m sure before that time my phone was listened to,” Tamm added. My wife “will never feel the same in my house … She really felt that her security had been victimized.”

But the ObamAdministration will come to the rescue... won't they?

After the 2007 raid, Justice Department prosecutors tried to convince Tamm to plead guilty to revealing classified information. He refused. To date, he’s had a criminal indictment hanging over his head — but authorities have yet to charge him with a crime. [...]

Now that President Obama has taken office, however, Tamm seems more likely to elude jail. Prosecutors told the Bush lawyer-cum-whistleblower last year that they’d delay a decision on whether to charge him until this year. It’s unknown whether the Justice Department will continue to pursue a criminal charge.

Dear ObamAdministration: Do the right thing. Love, Laffy

White House Counsel Greg Craig Asked to ‘Step Down’ regarding BushCo matters

By GottaLaff

It's getting messy:

North Alabama attorney and GOP whistle-blower Jill Simpson is asking that White House Counsel Greg Craig recuse himself from consulting with President Obama on his legal position over executive privilege in the case of Karl Rove, the former political adviser to President Bush who is still defiance of a Congressional subpoena to testify about his role in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and other crimes.

Citing the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, Ms. Simpson’s attorney Priscilla Black Duncan writes in a letter dated Feb. 22 that Craig should “step down” from his position as White House Counsel, “at least in all matters dealing with the Bush administration.”

In what appears to be a clear conflict of interest, Craig represented Rove in his recent book deal, while Craig’s law partner, close associate and mentor, Emmet Flood, is representing Bush in executive privilege matters before the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, where Bush administration officials have been charged with the political firings of U.S. attorneys for failing to act on orders to prosecute Democrats prior to elections.

Furthermore, Craig had been in contact with Ms. Simpson on the pretense of possibly representing her in her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee legal team a year and a half ago, but declined to represent her only after getting her to reveal her entire case against Mr. Rove. [...]

Ms. Simpson also demands to know the identities of anyone contacted about the recommendation to seek legal services from Washington attorney David Laufman, also known as “Bush’s Cleaner,” or Montgomery Republican Tommy Gallion, who after months of intensive discussions with Ms. Simpson, indicated he was in regular contact with President Bush on her case.

Gallion has repeatedly declined to answer my direct questions about Bush’s knowledge of the Siegelman case.

If Bush was as interested in the case as Gallion indicated to Ms. Simpson, that would place him directly in the loop in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Perhaps Congress should also considering issuing a subpoena to Bush himself to testify under oath, since he refuses to allow Rove to testify, claiming staff executive privilege in his case.

The full letter is here. Original story link.

H/t: Dr. President

Final Language of Stimulus Confirms Whistleblower Protections for Private Contractors

By GottaLaff

Recently, I angrily posted about Susan Collins killing whistleblower protection in the recovery bill. Fortunately, things have changed somewhat:

Turns out the final language included in the agreed-upon stimulus bill does indeed include protections for employees of government contractors — like KBR, Halliburton, etc. — who report fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer money, even if they report within their own company rather than to an outside government agency. [...]

An amendment by Senator Claire McCaskill fixed that problem. The final language is here.

Still, federal employees, despite almost a decade of internal congressional wrangling about the problem, remain wholly unprotected. Although Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) had proposed a bi-partisan provision on this that the House had adopted, the Senate conferees rejected it, apparently over concerns that providing protections for intelligence employees could somehow end up revealing classified information if they brought retaliation claims. [...]

“It is not too late for accountability,” [Tom Devine, legal director for the non-profit Government Accountability Project] said in a statement released today. “After nearly ten years of hearings and votes, there is no excuse to spend nearly a trillion dollars without safe passage for federal employees who risk their careers to keep it honest.”

Congress could still lock in federal whistleblowers protections before the money starts getting spent in 120 days, he said, adding: “The politicians owe it to the taxpayers.”

Let's hope so.

Susan Collins, of the Senate OVERSIGHT Committee, killed whistleblower protection

By GottaLaff

Here's your "centrist":

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), ranking member of the Senate's oversight committee, no less, kills a whistleblower protection provision in the stimulus bill.

Angry yet? So am I. It gets worse:

To make matter worse, Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs commitee, which, as an oversight committee, might be expected to see its role as protecting whistleblowers. She also sits on the Senate appropriations committee, giving her a strong position from which to wield influence during today's negotiations.

Though Senate leader Harry Reid supported the protections, said the source, he wasn't willing to strong-arm Collins on the issue, given her central role in negotiations over the stimulus bill as a whole.

So when, in the coming months, conservatives start jumping up and down over the fact that money from the stimulus bill is being wasted, as they surely will, it's worth remember that a key measure designed to help expose that waste was removed from taken out of the bill -- and by a senator said to be a champion of fiscal discipline.

Good old Susan Collins. Good old Harry Reid. Good lord.

Countdown: NSA Whistleblower- Bush Administration Spying on Journalists

Remember the big buzz a couple years back about Christiane Amanpour being spied on? Well, whaddaya know.